Salt soap questions

I've been reading a lot about salt bars, but didn't want to hijack punkflash54's post.

A few questions:
-If the bar is 95-100% coconut oil, isn't it drying?
-What are the benefits of salt bars other than exfoliation?
-Do you do everything the same, except for oil types?
-Do you add the salt at trace, and how much?
-What do you normally use to color it?

Thanks for your time!

For me..... and I love the stuff....
I add equal quantity of salt to oil.
So 1kg of oil = 1kg of salt.
I use cooking salt.
I add at light trace.
Superfat at 20% & that why its not drying.
Its actually a lovely bar of soap.
As for colour I put in oxides.
I love that salty coloured look the soap gets.
& best of all is turns a 1kg soap batch into a 2kg soap batch for only the cost of a kg of salt...cheeeeaaaaapppppp....

Nattynoo,

I wanted to get your opinion on what difference it makes to use soap at a 100% ratio to oils as opposed to, say, at 80%. I just made my first batch at 80% and I'm excited about it.

American Valkyrie said:

I've been reading a lot about salt bars, but didn't want to hijack punkflash54's post.

A few questions:
-If the bar is 95-100% coconut oil, isn't it drying?

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One would logically expect this to be the case, but it actually isn't drying at all (at least not to me). The salt somehow cuts down on the drying factor. I've superfatted my salt bars anywhere from as low as 8% all the way up to 15% and have never felt dried out by them.

American Valkyrie said:

-What are the benefits of salt bars other than exfoliation?

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Actually, salt bars do not exfoliate..... at least not when fine-grain salt is used. If you use coarse-grain salt you may get some exfoliating action, but it will be quite short lived because the salt in the bar dissolves as you are bathing with it. I make mine with fine-grain sea salt.

Some benefits I've noticed are these (please keep in mind these are just anecdotal. Results will vary from person to person and from one's salt bar recipe to another's salt bar recipe):

-They are rock-solid bars that last a long time.
-My hubby noticed if he nicked himself when shaving with my salt bars that although the cut would sting, the cut would heal faster than he is normally used to.
-We have hard water, but using a salt bar makes it feel like we are bathing in soft water.
-My nephew noticed a reduction in his teenage acne when using my salt bars.
-They leave my skin feeling extra-fresh and invigorated.

American Valkyrie said:

-Do you do everything the same, except for oil types?

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I'm not sure I understand what you are asking on this question. If you are asking if I vary my salt bar recipe for individual skin-types, then the answer is no, but I wouldn't be averse to doing so if someone requested it. Was that what you were asking?

American Valkyrie said:

-Do you add the salt at trace, and how much?

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I add my salt at medium-to-heavy trace, right before I pour. I used to add as much as 100% salt, but after a bit of tweaking and experimenting, I now use 25% salt.

American Valkyrie said:

-What do you normally use to color it?

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Just my normal oxide and ultramarine colorants.

American Valkyrie said:

-Thanks for your time!

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You're welcome.

IrishLass

American Valkyrie said:

I've been reading a lot about salt bars, but didn't want to hijack punkflash54's post.

A few questions:
-If the bar is 95-100% coconut oil, isn't it drying?
-What are the benefits of salt bars other than exfoliation?
-Do you do everything the same, except for oil types?
-Do you add the salt at trace, and how much?
-What do you normally use to color it?

Thanks for your time!

Click to expand...

I wonder if they mean do everything the same, as in technique.

Sure, you do things the same way, but the soap hardens a lot faster because it's mostly (or all) coconut oil, so you have to cut very quickly, within minutes or hours. You can't wait overnight like you can with regular HP or CP. If you wait, the whole soap will crumble apart when you try to cut it.

Oh, and it's hard to HP, but can be done!

It's not drying because you use a really high superfat. 15-20% usually ...

Salt bars give you a "special" clean feeling that's kind of different from anything else. I describe it as ... crisp ... I don't really know how else to say it, LOL.

I add the salt at heavy trace (so it won't sink), and I use around 75% of the oil weight in salt (so for 1 lb of oils, I'd use 3/4 lb of salt). I like coarse sea salt the best.

You can use the same things you'd usually use to color it.

Hope this helps!

Salt bars don't lather much for me. They will give you more of a creamy, lotiony feel.

SudsyKat - Did u mean the salt ratio????? I don't think it really matters weather u do 80 or 100%.
It'll take 100%... well mine do....but 80% salt would be fine too.
I get excited about my salt soap too.
& agree with PP they last forever!!

IrishLass said:

American Valkyrie said:

-Do you do everything the same, except for oil types?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking on this question. If you are asking if I vary my salt bar recipe for individual skin-types, then the answer is no, but I wouldn't be averse to doing so if someone requested it. Was that what you were asking?

Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have been more clear on that. I mean the general soaping process. Same SAP for coconut oil, same water:lye ratio (I use about 2:1), same soaping temp (I use 120), same blending process, adding fragrance at trace, etc. For fragrance do you still use about 1/2oz ppo? Or is the salt weight factored in there as well?